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Behind the Scenes of the Modern Roost Design Project

Throughout this calendar year, we’ve taken you on a journey with one of our residential renovation projects, The Modern Roost – named after the project’s original design direction.  

There were two main objectives for sharing this journey with you:  

  1. To give you a “behind the scenes” look at how interior design projects unfold: the timing as well as the potential setbacks of a design-build project.
  2. To answer any questions that you may have about the interior design industry.  

In chronological order, here are the ins-and-outs of our Modern Roost renovation project throughout 2022:  

We started this journey with you in Febuary 2022, on Step 5 of our 13-Step Design Process, the Concept Phase. We showed you the design concept by sharing the storyboard – the style direction depicted warmth and coziness and also included natural-feeling materials. 

Our clients affirmed we were on the right track, so we moved on to creating these Main, Second, and Basement floor plans. 

With a project of this size & scale, it’s really important to spend the time required to ensure the best possible floor plans are achieved. 

We’re excited to say that both our clients and our design team are confident in what’s been created.  

And as you can see, Chinook is completely relaxed about the whole process and is feeling good about Carrie’s explanation of his family’s new space.

 

Now that the concept work is complete, we move on to Step 6 of the 13-Step Design Process which involves collaborating with our Certified Engineering Technologist (CET), so the structural requirements can be assessed. 

The Design Development presentation, Step 7 of 13, is a key milestone in our design-build process. This is an unveiling of the project. Our clients get to see 3D images of their home’s new interior floor plan. During this meeting, we also present materials, fixtures, furniture & fabrics. This is an exciting time, not only for our team who get to unveil their design work but also for our clients who become fully engaged in their new space.  

Watching our overjoyed clients is a beautiful reminder why we do what we do!

 

We get VERY excited about this presentation! 

While our primary focus is on designing interiors, we LOVE an opportunity to design exteriors as well! Modern Roost isn’t only getting an interior make-over, but the exterior of the house is a getting a facelift of its own!

In July, the project met an obstacle when our CET (who, thankfully, and strategically, came onboard in Step 6) identified some discrepancies between the original blueprints of the home and how it was actually built. Upon investigation, we learned that during the original construction some liberties were taken by the framers which means not all the structural loads were supported. This will have to be corrected during the renovation. It also means that some of our floor plans needed to be tweaked in order to accommodate newly added structural supports.

While we were making changes to the interior of the house, we also made some revisions to the home’s exterior; turns out, Modern Roost was a bit too modern for our clients, so we gave it some rustic charm. 

 

Step 8, this was the big final presentation meeting. This meeting often takes 3-4 hours in length. We go through each room, uncovering every finish, fixture, and review the design in fine detail with our clients. It’s where our team’s expertise in detailing and producing technical drawings shines!

Most clients are shocked by number of elements that need to be considered and how extensive a drawing package needs to be in order for a building project to be accurately priced and well executed.   

 

After the final presentation, our clients take time to process the information & provide feedback, making edits directly on the documents. Once we receive the clients’ feedback, we make revisions and then issue the plans to the CET so he can finalize his structural details. 

Our Certified Engineering Technologist (CET) takes a few weeks to create the structural drawings to support our design drawings. Once this task is complete, we’ll have the completed Issued for Construction (IFC) drawing set that will be used for final pricing, permits, ordering materials, and construction.  

This is definitely a process; however, a good drawing & specification package is key to a successful design-build project! 

Projects of this size take a lot of time to plan before construction can begin, but thorough planning is imperative to successful execution.   

We are excited to see this project come together, but the pricing process and the start of construction will take a bit of time, so now we wait. We’ll be back with lots of exciting updates once construction starts to take shape.   

If you have any questions about our process or want to discuss your renovation or new build project with us, we’d love to hear from you. Here’s a link to our contact sheet. We will start with a complimentary 15-minute virtual conversation and then go from there. 

Thanks for journeying with us in 2022. See you in 2023!  

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